Aggrieved Weala residents barricade Supt.’s offices

Aggrieved residents demanding reparation from the Chinese International Construction Company or CICO for damages to their properties have again barricaded the offices of Margibi County Superintendent John Z. Buway.

According to them, they have become impatience after waiting for a long time without receiving payment from the company as promised. The residents, who are from Weala and its environs, blocked the main entrance to the Superintendent’s Offices in Kakata on Tuesday, September 20, 2016.

ICO through its operations reportedly damaged several houses belonging to residents in the area. It may be recalled that these residents have also continuously staged peaceful protests at CICO and Supt. Buway’s offices, demanding that the company renovates and rebuilds their houses, based on the level of damages.

The spokesperson for the group, Alonzo Tucker had claimed the company owes them over a million United States Dollars. This issue has seen the involvement of the Government of Liberia through the Ministries of Lands, Mines and Energy, Labor and Internal Affairs, respectively. But up to date, there has been no proper and speedy redress.

The company had agreed to settle the owners of houses within the perimeter of about 1000 kilometers, beginning from its operational site, which is yet to be materialized.  At one instant, the aggrieved residents listening to the government, agreed to go to a roundtable for friendly discussion with the company, but this effort too yielded no fruitful result.

By Ramsey N. Singbeh, Jr. in Margibi-Editing by Jonathan Browne